Direction finder



A ril 16, 1346. L. E; NORTON I 2,398,551

DIRECTION FINDER Filed Dec. 31, 1942 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Snventof LI] WELL E NIJRTDN Gttomeg Patented Apr. 16, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Rad o loratiQI of .nienfica,

1 of Delaware swims;

Application De e b r 31, 1942, S r a NQ- 0,859.

11 Claims.

This invention relates t ilection finders, and more particularly to improvements in the art :of determining the front of a radio wave by using spaced vertical antennas and comparing the phases of volta es induced in the several antennas by a radiation field.

This method has been practiced in the past by usinsjpairs of antennas interconnected in opposition to each other and to a common load circuit, asin the well known Adcock system. Owing to the .fact that the voltages from the individual antenna pairs are combined in opposition, their resultant amplitude is substantially proportional to their phase difference. Thus a phase compari. son obtained directly in the antenna circuits and the amplitude of the resultant output is sub.- stantially proportional to the cosine of the angle between the wave front of the radio wave and the perpendicular vbisector of the line between the antennas. The principal reason for using systems of this type is to avoid response to other than vertically polarized waves, and so obtain freedom from so called polarization error or night eflect. In order to utilize the full advantage of this arrangement it is necessary to take elaborate precautions to avoid Pick up of horizontally polarized field components by any part of the antenna circuit. It has been found impossible in practice'to achieve this result completely even when all horizontal surfaces in the system are either removed or shielded. Thus by process of elimination it appears that the residual response to non-vertically polarized energy must be a result of proximity of the pair or pairs of vertical antenna elements, since a single isolated vertical antenna will exhibit no suehresponse.

According to the present invention, it is proposed to sample the radiation field at spaced poi s while a d ng a tenna p oximity e fects by means of a plurality of sectionalized antenna structures. During the time that each of the antennas is operative, all of the other antennas are broken up into relatively small segments so that they are in efiect removed from the field. 45

consideration of the following description with reference to th accompanying drawings of which Figs. 1 and 2 are elevational and sectional views respectively of a commutated antenna structure, Fig. 3 is a schematic block diagram of an" embodiment of the invention, Figs. 4, 5 and 6 are graphical representations of voltages occurring in the operation of the system of-Fig. 3, Figs.'7, 8', 9 and 10 {are graphical"representations of the antenna switching cycles of the system of Fig. 3, and

10 Figs. l 1 and 12 are plan views illustrating'alternative arrangements of the spaced antennas of the system of Fig. 3.

Referring to Fig. 1,' a vertically disposed shaft l of insulating material is provide'd with a plurality of arcuate conductive segments '3 spaced apart longitudinally from eachptherand arranged to cooperate with stationary-brushes 5. Each of the segments 3 extends through an arc of around the shaft I, so that if the shaft is rotated past the brushes the segments '3 are onnected together during l/a of each revolution. When the egments 3 are connected together the assembly functions as a continuous vertical conductor. During the remainder of the revolution of the shaft l the segments 3 are disconnected from each other. The segments 3 and the connections between the brushes 5 are made so short that the natural connected for operation in sequence. Referring to Fig. '7, the antenna N is operative during the period PI. The antennas E, S and Ware operativepdurin g the periods P2, P3 and P4, as indicated by Figs. 8; 9 and 10 respectively. Since the ant'ennas are operated successively, producing 0utputs in the'form of staggered trains ofiractional waves, a di ec Phase comp ison is not po si e- Hence it is necessary to synthesize voltages which are related in phase'tp each other in theesame way as the outputs of the antennas would be related ifthey were coexistent.

Fig. 4 represents a low frequency sinusoidal potential, whose frequency is the difference in frequency between an arriving signal and a locally injected signal.

s plain d below, t e Pot nt a rep es n :ponent.

21rd cos cos b A The q n y fi/ r will be referred to as the 'YIO' modulation frequency. Assuming that;;the-;an.-

tenna switching repetition frequency is onehalf the modulation frequency, "eachar tenna will be operative for a period equal to that' of 'one-half wave of the modulation cycle. Referring to Fig.

5, if an antenna is made operative; atfa'timeairi after the initiation of a, modulation cycle, the output, after demodulation, will comprise a fractional wave repeated .at intervals; corresponding to 'theiswitching repetitlon.-period. This wave in cludes a fundamental frequency which, is the same as the switching repetition frequency, a second harmonic of the same frequency as the modu- ,lated' frequency, and numerous higherharmonics. The modulation'frequencycomponents or second harmonics may be isolated by means of afilter comprising reactive elementsarranged to reject all other components. monic component of the wave of. Fig. 5 will -be of the same form as the modulation frequency component of V Fig. 4. The filter; output is I illustrated in Fig. 6. "A similarfilter may, be provided for each antenna channel, and the phases of the filter output voltages compared to provide bearing indications. Since thereis no-assurance that the switching cycle will remain in a constant phase relation with the modulation; cycle, it is necessary a The .selected second har that the phase of the modulation component of I the wave of Fig. 5 be independentv of the angle ar. Expressing the voltage E5 of Fig. 5 in terms of a Fourier series: a

b2 cos H 'az sin'ipf-i-yl andbzcos (pH-7) represent the second harmonic 0r modulation frequency-commultiplying the series by sin (fit-My and "inte- The {constant be m z m .detezrmmied The constant a: maybe evaluated by rival, 7\ is the wavelength between the modulation and the second harmonic of the wave of Fig. 5 is zero, when the switching cycle starts at a time Thus the phase angle 'meclianically connected, as schematically indicatecl by the dashed lines I, to a synchronous mo- .t'or 9,.wh'ich is electrically connected to an A.-C. supply I l. --A;receiver I3 is connected to a switch l5 which is arranged to be driven by the motor 9-to "connect th'e'rceiver to the antennas in sequence corresponding to the commutation cycle. A second switch I! is provided in the output circuitof the receiver l3 to-connect the'receiver succ'e'ss'ively t'o a'plurality of'fi1ter'sl9, 2|, 23 and. The outputs of the filtersl9 and Bare connected in Opp sition to the-input circuit of an amplifier '21. 'I'hefilte'rs 2| and 25' are similarly connected to an amplifier 29. f -Th'e output "circuit of the amplifier 2.1 is connected to one defiection'circuit of the cathode ray tube '3! and the amplifier 29 is connected to the other defiec tion circuit. 1 The outputs of the filters l9 and. 23 are additively combined in a network comprising resistors 33, 35sand 31z'and applied through an amplifier 39 to the control grid circuit' of the cathode ray tube 3|. V V

, A small antenna C is provided atthe center of the-antennaiarray and is connected to an oscillator M. An automatic frequency control circuit 43 is connected betweenthe filter l8, the Af-C.

supply H and the oscillator 4|. .The'receiver- I3 is of th'e superheterodyne type; The usual local oscillator for frequency changing is omitted :and the beating frequency is supplied. from a, balanced modulator 45 which is connected to the oscillator Mandto an oscillator 41. a ,The. injection oscillator 4l -is adjusted to'provideanoutput differing; in frequency from the carrier of the'arriving signal by an amount api a. ntennas} res ective y. where is the signal amplitude, m

" and m are modulation factors, 01/21: is thesignal carrier frequency, at is the spacing between the antennas Nand s, 0- is the azimuth of wayearrival 1 with respect to; the; line between the, an-

tennasN and S,- p is the elevation-pf wave ar- 0f h firri in war .and o is a constant. 1 7

. e t m n n; 9

inaid 'd -bi vijde waitstof the I.-F. amplifier of the receiver [3, when connected to the antenna N, will be The second detector of the receiver l3 will then establish a potential:

E6: 011 2.11b cos @H W Ef=c1E E cos (g JLfi l Thus the combined signals are mixed by the action of the second detector of the receiver [3, providing output waves of the form illustrated in Fig. 5. The antennas N, E, S and W are operated consecutively, each for a period equal to one fourth of the switching repetition period. The filters l9, 2|, 23 and 25 are tuned to accept the power frequency components, as described above. The outputs of the filters thus comprise sinusoidal waves bearing the same phase relations with respect to each other as the R.-F.voltages induced in the corresponding antennas bear to each other, The phases of the outputs of the filters l9 and 23 are compared in the input circuit of the amplifier 2! to provide an A.-C. voltage proportional in magnitude to the sine of the bearing. The outputs of the filters 2i and 25 are similarly combined in the amplifier 29 to provide a second voltage of the same frequency proportional in amplitude to the cosine of thebearing. The outputs of the amplifiers 21 and 29 are in time phase. The cathode ray beam of the tube 3i is therefore deflected to produce a linear trace at an angle equal to the bearing angle. In order to remove the reciprocal bearing indication, the trace is blacked out or defocused over one-half its length by applying the sum of the outputs of the filters I 9 and 23 to the intensity control electrode.

The automatic frequency control circuit 43 comprises a discriminator arranged to respond to the difference between the power supply frequency and the frequency of the output of the filter I9, and adjust the frequency of the injection oscillator M to reduce this difference to zero. This maintains the output of the oscillator 4| at a frequency differing from that of the received carrier by exactly the power frequency. The use of radiation injection has the advantage of elimi nating errors due to random phase shift characteristics of the antenna circuits, since both the received carrier voltages and the injected signal voltages are shifted by substantially the same amount in each antenna circuit.

The balanced modulator 45 produces an output voltage of a frequency which is equal to-the difference between the frequency of the injection oscillator 4| and the frequency of the oscillator 41; The oscillator 41 is adjusted to operate at the I.-F. frequency of the receiver I3.

The modulator 45 thus provides a voltage of V the proper frequency to beat the received signal to the I.-F. frequency. To change the frequency of operation of the system it is only necessary to tune the injection oscillator 4| to approximately the desired frequency. The automatic frequency control 43 will then adjust the oscillator 4| to the exact frequency in response to the output of the filter I9.

Numerous circuitvaria-tion's are possible. For example various ratios of modulation frequency to commutation frequency may be chosen with correspondingly dilferent harmonics selected to obtain the condition that the phase of the filter outputs be independent of the switching phase. In order to provide satisfactory operation on slow speed telegraphy signals, it is necessary to operate the system at a high enough rate to provide a steady bearing indication.- The antenna commutation must' be limited to a relatively low speed because of mechanical considerations. If the power frequency is multiplied by some integral coefiicient n and a correspondingly higher harmonic is selected by the filters, the operation will be'exactly as described above except at a higher rate, provided that if commutation frequency is [3/411 the modulation frequency is nB/21r, so that correct bearing indications will be produced even though the signal may be interrupted during the antenna commutation cycle.

Theinjection antenna C of the system of Fig. 3 may be removed from its central location and placed at some outside location as shown in Fig, 11, provided that phase shifters corresponding to the altered geometry are placed in the channels of the filters [9, 2|, 23 and 25. The path C'N is the shortest and for convenience is used as a reference. If a phase advance equal to 21r/ times the difierences in the lengths of the paths C'-N and CE is introduced in the'channel of the filter IS, a phase advance of 21r/)\ times the difference between the paths (1'8 and C'E is introduced in the channel of filter 23, and a phase advance of 21r/)\ times the difierence between the path CW and C'E in the channel of the filter 25,- the operation will be the same as in the above described system. The central antenna may be replaced by two antennas C" and C' as illustrated in Fig. 12, located equidistant from the center point 0, and on a line which passes through the point 0, The mean phase of the pair will be the same as the phase at 0.

Mean phase voltage for eliminating reciprocal v bearing indications may be obtained without the use of central sense antenna by modifying the antenna switching sequence, to include periods wherein two or more antennas operate simultaneously. The filter output during these periods will be mean phase voltage. The relation between the commutation frequency and the modulation frequency must be changed to conform to the new switching sequence. For example, if the switching sequence is N, NS, E, E-W, S,.N-S, W,'EW, the modulation frequency must be 'nfli/Z-zr where the commutation frequency is [3/41 and n is any real integral number. The sensev period may be repeated. once for each complete commutation cycle rather than four times. Thus the switching sequence may be N, E, S, W, NS. In this case if the commutation frequency is 5/4"- the modulation frequency must be mp/8w. In each of the above cases, the sense voltage may be derived from either diagonal pair or from all of the antennas connected simultaneously.

-Thus the invention has been described as a method of direction finding in which erroneous indications due to abnormally polarized or steeplyincident radiation is avoided by preventing response to any other than vertical electric field components. This is accomplished by use of antenna structures which may be commutated cyclically to change their electrical characteristic from those of a vertical conductor to those of a plurality of relatively short isolated conductors. The antennas are commutated successively, so that only one antenna at a time is operative, the other antennas being effectively removed from the field. This prevents response to hori z ontally polarized field components which would otherwise occur as a result of antenna proximity efiects, V Q

I claim as my invention:

. 1.A radio direction finder; comprlsing'a plurality of spaced antenna structures each comprising a series of isolated conductors of relatively short length compared to the wave length of the highest frequency at which the "system is to operate, commutator means arranged to connect said conductors to form a single vertical conductor, means for driving said commutators to select successive ones of said spaced antenna structures, receiver means connected to each of said antennas, filter means connected in the output circuit of said receiver means and arranged to select voltages of a modulation frequency related to the frequency of commutation of said antennas so as to provide an output which is in-,- dependent in phase of the phase of said commutation and indicator means connected to said filter-means. j

2; A radio direction finder comprising a pluralityof spaced antenna structures each including a series of isolated conductive segments of relatively short length compared to the wave length of the highest frequency at which the system is to operate and commutator means arranged to connect the segments of said structure to form a single vertical conductor, means for operating said commutators to connect together periodical ly the segments of each of said structures successively whereby vertical conductors are sequentially set up atspaced points, receiver means connected to said antenna structures, filter means connected to said receiver means, and phase responsive indicator means connected to said'filte'r 7 means.

' 3. The invention as claimed in claim 2, includ-. ing a local source of radiation arranged to operate at a frequency different from the carrier frequency of an arriving waveby an amount which is related to the frequency of antenna commutation by 'the factor 2n, where it is any real integral number. r t

' 4. The method of direction finding which comprises the steps of radiating energy at'a frequency differing from that of the carrier of an arriving wave; sampling the resultant radiation field at a plurality of spaced points "in succession to derive successive wave trains corresponding to the field at said points, separately demodulating said wave trains, filtering each of said de-' modulated wave trains to isolate therefrom a component equal in frequency to the difference between the frequency of said locally radiated signal and the frequency of said arriving wave, and comparing the phases of said isolated components. V

5. Th invention as claimed is claim 2 including a local source of radiation arranged to operate at a frequency differing from that of, the frequency of an arriving wave by an amount so related to the frequency of antennacommuntm tion that the phase of said filtered receiver output is independent of the phase of said antenna switching. r V

6. The invention as claimed in claim 2 including a local source of radiation arranged to operate at a frequency differing from that of the frequency of an arriving wave by an amount so related to the frequency of antenna communta tion that the phase of said filtered receiver output is independent of the phase of said antenna switching, an automatic frequency control circuit connected to control the frequency of said source of local radiation in response to the difference between said frequency of said filtered receiver output and that of a reference voltage of fixed frequency 7.

7. The invention as claimed in claim 2 wherein said indicator means comprises a cathode ray tube including an intensity control electrode, and means for energizing said electrode in accordance with the mean phase of the output voltages of said filter means. V 8. A directive antenna array including a plurality of antenna structures located at spaced points, each comprising a series of isolated conductive segments of relatively short lengths compared to the wavelength of the highest frequency at which the system i to operate and commutator means. arranged to connect the segments of said structure to form a single vertical conductor.

9. A directive antenna array including a plurality of antenna structures located at spaced points, each comprising a series of isolated conductive segments of relatively short lengths compared to the wavelength of the highest frequency at which the system is to-operate, cyclically operabler commutator means provided on each of said structures and arranged to be operated from a common source of control energy so as to connect the segments of each of said structures in succession to form a single vertical conductor at each of said'spaced points in sequence.

10. An antenna structure comprising a series of spaced conductive segments of relatively short lengthscompared to the wavelength of the highestzfrequency at which said structure is to operate, and commutator means comprising a plurality of spaced conductors, electrically isolated from each other, arranged to connect said segment together to form a single vertical conductor. I a 1 11, An antenna structure comprising a shaft of insulating material, a series of segments of conductive materialsupported on said shaft and brushes and the nearest brush of the. adjacent pair-ofibrushes, (whereby aid segments are 'cyclically'connected-together to form'a singlevertical conductor'upon rotation of said shaft;

P f LOWELL E. NORTON. 

